List S

road and street

1. A street is a road with houses on either side.
We use street for roads in towns, but not for country roads.

  • Cars can park on both sides of our street.

Road is used for both town and country.

  • Cars can park on both sides of our road.
  • There’s a narrow winding road from our village to the next one.
    (not… a narrow winding street…)

2. Note that, in street names, we stress the word Road, but the word before Street.

  • Marylebone ‘ Road
  • ‘Oxford Street.

look (at), watch and see

1. See is the ordinary word to say something ‘comes to our eyes’

  • Suddenly I saw something strange. Can you see me?
  • Did you see the article about the strike in today’s paper?

See in not used in progressive tenses with this meaning.
When we want to say that we see something at the moment of speaking, we often use can see.

  • I can see an plane. (NOT I am seeing….)

2. We use look (at) to talk about concentrating, paying attention, trying to see as well as possible.

Compare

  • I looked at the photo, but I didn’t see anybody I knew.
  • Do you see the man in the raincoat? Yes .
    Look again. Good heaves! It’s Moriaty!

We use look when there is no object, and look at before an object.

Compare

  • Look! (NOT look at)
  • Look at me! (NOT look me)

Talking: Say, Tell, Ask, Speak, Talk, Answer, Reply

Say (say/said/said)

We use say when we report someone’s words.

  • She said ‘This is horrible!’
  • He said that he wanted a drink.

We use say when we ask about language.

  • a: How do you say ‘book’ in Spanish? b: ‘Libro’.

We say hello / goodbye   please / thank you /Happy Birthday / Merry Christmas / Happy New Year / Congratulations

Tell (tell/told/told)

Tell is usually followed immediately by a person. Say is not followed immediately by a person.

  • He told me his name. [not He said me his name.]

We use tell when we want to know how to get to a place.

  • Can you tell me where the bus station is, please? [not Can you say me …?]

We use tell with other wh- words too (when, how, why, where), e.g. you can tell someone how to do something, where something is, why something happened.

  • He told me how to send a fax.
  • Tell me when you want to have dinner.
  • You can tell someone the time / a story / a joke / your name / address / telephone number.

Ask

Ask is used for questions.

  • My sister asked me where I was going, (or My sister asked (me) ‘Where are you going?’)
  • a: Can I ask you a question? b: Yes.
  • a: What day of the week were you born? b: Thursday.

You can ask someone the way / the time / a question.

Ask somebody to do something and ask someone for something.

  • I asked him to turn off his radio, (or I said ‘Please turn off your radio.’
  • She asked for the bill, (or She said ‘Can I have the bill please?’)

Speak/talk/answer/reply

Do you speak Japanese?   [not Do you -talk Japanese?]

I like talking to you. (having a conversation with you)

Can you answer the telephone / the door, please?
(pick up the phone / open the door to see who it is)

I wrote a letter to him but he did not reply.
(for letters/faxes/e-mails) (he did not send me a letter